I just finished reading The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb and just to start out by saying I really enjoyed it.
To be frank, it was a lot heavier than I expected having not read reviews or anything beforehand. It probably isn't something I would have put myself through as a divorced dad myself. I related to it more than I'd like to admit, especially the struggle with balancing hope/hopelessness.
My main 'complaint' and the reason for this post is the end of part 2 and all of part 3. As silly as it sounds, it took a turn and went down a path that caught me off guard and I got mad at the book for taking the path it took and for the way it made me feel.
Has anyone else had this? Gotten mad at a book for taking away the happy ending you were so hopeful for or for breaking your heart or making you angry for whatever reason?
by flodra
13 Comments
I rarely read happily ever after books, so no.
I hear you, and as a fellow writer, I can tell you that those ‘angry’ moments are often the most honest connections between a reader and an author.
When a book refuses to give us a ‘happily ever after,’ it can feel like a betrayal, especially when you relate to the protagonist’s struggle with hope and hopelessness. But sometimes, a forced happy ending would be a greater betrayal of the character’s truth.
I spent six years writing about three generations in a remote village (Warm Mountain), and I faced this exact dilemma. I realized that the ‘radiance of humanity’ isn’t found in a perfect ending, but in the courage to keep feeling even when the ending hurts.
As a divorced dad, you’re looking for a mirror, not just an escape. That anger you feel is proof that the story was real to you. It’s okay to be mad at a book—it means the author successfully broke your heart, which is a rare and powerful thing.
No and if anything, I seek that out. A truly effective emotional gut punch is hard to land.
I felt this with Sweetbitter. Literally threw the book across the room 😌
No, I read to experience a story not dictate it.
I would much rather have a gut punch! Even better if it’s a surprise.
I wouldn’t say I got mad, as I kind of expected it, but the final chapters of Solzhenitsyn’s Cancer Ward – a very bleak book from start to end – feels depressing. I don’t want to give too many spoilers and I highly recommend reading it, but it is a tough nut.
I prefer “bad” endings. But it makes it feel more real to me. Not every trauma gets resolved in 300+ pages.
The only time it really pisses me off is when it seems unrealistic. There are some books where they have the main character learn how to be independent, navigate the world the way they want, and the authors take the time to write a fleshed out story of someone who has grown and can finally enjoy life and then BAM it gets ruined in the last few chapters by a surprise (pick your poison of death in family, pregnancy, gets fired, fails a test and is kicked out of school) and they can’t come back from it in those final chapters. It feels like everything else I read was a gigantic waste of time because nothing mattered in the end.
All I ask for is a satisfying ending. It doesn’t have to be happy, per se, unless I’m reading Romance.
I feel like for me the reverse is true: sometimes I’ll read a book that seems to be heading towards a sad or unhappy ending for the characters and then get disappointed because it has a happy ending that comes out of left field and doesn’t suit the book. It feels like publisher’s interference.
I would also say a) some of read to chase that broken hearted feeling and b) there’s nothing wrong with wanting to read happy books but you can usually tell from the genre or vibe of the marketing which it’ll be. Lit fic usually means ambiguous or sad ending. Lighter/happier books are usually comedic books or romances.
I get more angry when a book forces a happily ever after instead of leaving this as messy or bleak.
Wally Lamb writes about emotional growth & life is not happily ever after
No…? I want a book to tell me the story the author intended.
And I prefer darker endings anyway, or at least, bittersweet ones. It’s more true to life.